Laid-back at work

In the 1940s, I joined the office of the commissioner, Rawalpindi, as a lower division clerk (LDC). In the English record room, the head clerk was a straightforward, honest and hardworking man who supervised the work of six to seven LDCs. He did not like people who wasted time. One of my colleagues was a compulsive talker and had a laid-back attitude. The head clerk warned him to pay more attention to his work. The LDC did not like being called out and hatched a conspiracy against his supervisor. Being a smooth talker, he convinced us all into his plan and we signed a complaint letter against the head clerk too. When I submitted the complaint, the superintendent called the head clerk who spoke high of my performance and told the superintendent that I might have been pressured into this. However, the superintendent dismissed the charges against the head clerk and asked me to join my duty.

At this point, the superintendent again asked me to disclose the name of the person responsible for the complaint. I revealed the truth which led to the dismissal of that person. I learned a lesson that day that many troublemakers create issues just to cover their own incompetence and corruption. It seems that this tradition goes on even today where incompetent individuals in government jobs use various tactics to exploit the system in their favour. All government employees should be careful of such mischievous and self-serving people who exploit others for their benefit. The government employees must realise that it is a handful of selfish and corrupt individuals who make the entire setup of government services look bad.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad